1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to an apparatus and a continuous method of attaching a first substrate to second substrate, and more specifically an apparatus and a method of continuously attaching a fabric to an elastomer and/or a urethane composition to form a product, wherein the product includes indicia thereon.
2. Background of the Invention
Methods for attaching one substrate to another substrate typically involve molds that can only accommodate single-run or batch processing. For example, elastomer substrates normally require specialized processing conditions based on the properties of the elastomer. In some typical methods, an elastomer substrate is placed into a mold of the desired shape and size. A second substrate is inserted into the mold, applied to a top surface of the elastomer substrate, and then the mold is sealed or otherwise closed and heated. The finalized product is removed from the mold and a new elastomer substrate is placed into the mold. This process is repeated as desired. This system suffers from many drawbacks including the extensive physical labor involved in applying and removing the substrates and the overall time-consuming nature of the process. As a result, this method is expensive to use because of the single run nature.
Another known method to attach an elastomer to a substrate involves supplying an elastomer in the desired shape and size and separately supplying and attaching the second substrate in a separate step in the manufacturing process. An adhesive or other attaching agent is applied to a surface of the elastomer and the second substrate is placed onto the adhesive. In some cases, a press or clamp is used to secure the elastomer-adhesive-second substrate together until the bond is secure. This system includes a number of drawbacks as well. For example, the adhesive bond may degrade over time and may not be as strong as bonds formed by other methods, such as, for example, bonds formed by heating or vulcanization. Further, the steps to apply adhesive or other bonding material to attach the elastomer to the second substrate requires extra steps and equipment during the manufacturing process, which results in an increased cost to the consumer.
In many instances, a product is labeled or otherwise imprinted to designate information about the product such as manufacturer, patent number, place of origin, code date, and the like. Such labeling frequently occurs as a separate step after the manufacturing process. The labeling can be post-applied or printed onto the product using standard equipment as known in the art. Printing the product after the manufacturing process creates additional problems including increased cost to the consumer, transportation of the product from the manufacturing facility to the printing facility, and additional resources to accomplish product labeling. Frequently the product labeling process is bypassed because of the stringent requirements of commercial printers, for example, minimum quantities for print jobs. The commercial printing requirements frequently make such labeling cost-prohibitive.
It has been heretofore unknown how to attach a first substrate to an elastomer and/or a urethane composition in a continuous process involving vulcanization because of the difficulties of controlling the processing conditions. In instances where continuous processing has been attempted, the product that is made as a result of the processing may be deformed or may not include the desired properties, for example, surface properties, strength properties, and the like. It is also unknown how to label a product during the manufacturing process using the process described herein.